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Player Discussion David Savard

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montreal

montreal

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Mar 21, 2002
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Didn't see a thread for him, sounds like it's been a rough start to the season for him, hope he's a good teacher for when more D prospects like Guhle, Norlinder, Harris.... come up as he'll be making 4.2M in salary next season and the following so could be hard to move him if we end up rebuilding.
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Rough start is kind of being easy on him. I knew it would be a bad signature but i expected him to be better than Alzner. I watched only the recaps for the past two weeks but some of his performances on said recaps were comical.
 
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Seb said:
Bergevin's evaluation of Savard scares me.

Actually, Bergevin's evaluation of all dmen scares me.
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Bergevin?


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I compared Savard to Alzner before this season started and some people laughed at that. My reasons were we already have too many stay at home guys (Chiarot and Eddy) and Savard is not even as good as a skater as them. Wondering what people thing about that pre-season statement now? :sarcasm:

I would have signed Merrill for one more year at $1M before I signed Savard to $3.5M for 4 years. If Savard wanted to come to the Habs, we could have said take it or leave it type offer... 1 or 2 years at $2M Max. Offended? Sure, try another team... it's all we can offer.
 
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Seb said:
Bergevin's evaluation of Savard scares me.

Actually, Bergevin's evaluation of all dmen scares me.
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It's not just Bergevin... several fans on HF boards valued that signing as well. I was not a fan of Savard... not the greatest skater, vision is like Alzner, and we already had too many stay at home types.

"Stanley Cup Champion" :laugh:. Guys like Eddy and Chiarot needs guys like Petry and Weber just as much as guys like Rutta need Hedman. We did not have a good spot for Savard in our line-up and I hated the idea of paying him to play bottom pairing and some felt he was a good option with Chiarot. Gave them the benefit of the doubt but my concerns have become reality
 
Habs Halifax said:
I compared Savard to Alzner before this season started and some people laughed at that. My reasons were we already have too many stay at home guys (Chiarot and Eddy) and Savard is not even as good as a skater as them. Wondering what people thing about that pre-season statement now? :sarcasm:

I would have signed Merrill for one more year at $1M before I signed Savard to $3.5M for 4 years. If Savard wanted to come to the Habs, we could have said take it or leave it type offer... 1 or 2 years at $2M Max. Offended? Sure, try another team... it's all we can offer.
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I think he spent the summer celebrating a cup win and is not in good shape, think he'll rebound next year tbh
 
KotkaZuki said:
I think he spent the summer celebrating a cup win and is not in good shape, think he'll rebound next year tbh
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Nah... he is who he is. An above average bottom pairing guy (overpaid) and a below average top 4 guy and if you place him in that spot, he needs to have a stud to play with which we don't.

Chiarot and Eddy are better stay at home guys and they can actually skate. Savard is not far off from Alzner bud. Lacks vision and can get smothered in our end by the forward attack. Passing the puck to our forwards vs the guys Tampa has is not the same situation. He's just another type that is physically strong and tries to be in position. Not that much different than Merrill on our team last year
 
Habs Halifax said:
I compared Savard to Alzner before this season starts and some people laughed at that. My reasons were we already have too many stay at home guys (Chiarot and Eddy) and Savard is not even as good as a skater as them. Wondering what people thing about that pre-season statement now? :sarcasm:

I would have signed Merrill for one more year at $1M before I signed Savard to $3.5M for 4 years. If Savard wanted to come to the Habs, we could have said take it or leave it type offer... 1 or 2 years at $2M Max. Offended? Sure, try another team... it's all we can offer.
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Yeah, I thought $4.5 for 4 years was a huge mistake and you just KNEW they'd try to play him on the second pair. Even had Edmundson been there from the start, it was always going to be a Chiarot/Savard tandem.

I mean, the "plan" if you want to call it that is clear... top-4 will be big, defence-first players. I know Petry is more of a two-way player, but it's clear they wanted big vets in the top-4. Meanwhile, they added Wideman to the bottom, so between Romanov, Wideman and Kulak, the skating type of players who are relatively young will be the least played defence because this team is so risk adverse. I'm also not suggesting those 3 on the bottom pair are PMD with offence. Just saying the team loaded up on what is perceived as big and strong and safe.

Savard was too much money and while a bunch of lumbering defencemen worked in the covid season and playoffs, it's not the type of defence for today's NHL. I'm too lazy to check what better skating defencemen (and don't anyone suggest DeAngelo) were available for $3.5m but that money was spent on the wrong guy.
 
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sandviper said:
Yeah, I thought $4.5 for 4 years was a huge mistake and you just KNEW they'd try to play him on the second pair. Even had Edmundson been there from the start, it was always going to be a Chiarot/Savard tandem.

I mean, the "plan" if you want to call it that is clear... top-4 will be big, defence-first players. I know Petry is more of a two-way player, but it's clear they wanted big vets in the top-4. Meanwhile, they added Wideman to the bottom, so between Romanov, Wideman and Kulak, the skating type of players who are relatively young will be the least played defence because this team is so risk adverse. I'm also not suggesting those 3 on the bottom pair are PMD with offence. Just saying the team loaded up on what is perceived as big and strong and safe.

Savard was too much money and while a bunch of lumbering defencemen worked in the covid season and playoffs, it's not the type of defence for today's NHL. I'm too lazy to check what better skating defencemen (and don't anyone suggest DeAngelo) were available for $3.5m but that money was spent on the wrong guy.
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I think Bergevin fell into the trap of the value we got from the big boys that played physical in the playoffs and went back to his strategy he had when he signed Alzner. The issue I have is you need the right type to play them with and the Habs didn't have it.

Savard was a huge red flag for me. Even Eddy was the year before but I know more about Savard's game than I did with Edmundson. The first area you always look for with big boys is their ability to skate. Savard is below average and not close to Chiarot and Edmundson. I thought that before and I was told not to worry about it, so I did but my fear has become reality.
 
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I was okay with the signing but it was because I remembered watching him as a Blue Jacket. He really wasn't that bad and had some offensive instincts. I don't remember who is D partner was so maybe it was someone (Jones or Werenski) that kept them out of the defensive zone and/or covered for him.

Right now he looks slow mentally and physically. I guess the Habs just really tired him out during the SCF. :sarcasm:
 
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He’s been terrible. Perfect second pairing defencemen for the tank I guess. Someone’s gotta be thrown to the wolves and play like shit, I guess he’s that guy during this hopeful rebuild
 
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peter2211 said:
From what I have seen, I hope he isn't teaching anybody anything
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Lets be fair... his skating sucks but he is not dumb. He does know how to play the position and can provide little details in terms of being in position but that's it. A guy like Savard needs to be paired with a stud and we just don't have that on the LD side.

Horrible signing and lacks vision in terms of what kind of guy Savard is. I believe he played with Sergachev with Tampa? Rutta played with Hedman and Cernak played with McDonagh. Think about it

If Weber was still here, this might have worked (see below). But starting the year with both Eddy and Weber out forced musical chairs and the results speak for themselves. Savard should not be on the top 4D and he's overpaid on the bottom paring. Might have worked with reduced minutes in the match-up game if he was with Romanov (5/5) but that has not been our reality

Eddy / Petry
Chiarot / Weber
Romanov / Savard
 
his signing was highly predictable, including that cap hit/term... i had hopes that he'd at least be a decent partner for Romanov on the third pairing, adding some veteran presence and stability as the kid worked on his consistency. Expensive for a bottom-pairing player, but a case of "right place, right time, right cultural heritage" that we could've lived with IF the GM understood his limitations clearly.

unfortunately, MB wasn't competent enough to recognize that Savard would not do well with more than 3rd pairing minutes and failed to address the gaping hole in our top-4 that was there before weber was confirmed out for the year.

Savard in the lineup with those holes ahead of him, very predictably has led to what we see. and now the guy is going to have to deal with the fall out of an angry fan base dumping on him in both languages... lose-lose-lose.
 
I mean, he went from playing with Mcdonagh in Tampa Bay to Kulak in Montreal. Lol

He needs a speedster to play with, so he can play conservatively, while the other guy gets the puck out.

Alzner's Buyout ends in 2 years & then we'll have Savard's buyout for another 4 years.
 
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MarkovsKnee said:
I mean, he went from playing with Mcdonagh in Tampa Bay to Kulak in Montreal. Lol

He needs a speedster to play with, so he can play conservatively, while the other guy gets the puck out.

Alzner's Buyout ends in 2 years & then we'll have Savard's buyout for another 4 years.
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Tampa paid a 1st for him and they subsequently won a cup. Things change quickly in the NHL, butbI suspect he still has trade value for a contender looking for a vet for their bottom pair.
 
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